


The Story That Almost Was

by MiaWritesFanFics



Series: When we ran [1]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/M, Pirate Captain Hook | Killian Jones/Princess Emma Swan, Princess Emma Swan
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-14
Updated: 2020-12-13
Packaged: 2021-03-09 21:49:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,122
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27563323
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MiaWritesFanFics/pseuds/MiaWritesFanFics
Summary: When Emma was born, no curse was cast. She grew up as a princess, with a palace, a crown, and a lot of responsibilities. But is she willing to give all that up to be with the man she loves?
Relationships: Captain Hook | Killian Jones/Emma Swan
Series: When we ran [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2014732
Kudos: 32





	1. An Unhappy Beginning

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first FanFict ever, so please be nice. 
> 
> I don't own any of this, but I just wanted to have some fun writing.
> 
> Hope you enjoy,  
> Mia x

Once upon a time… King David and Queen Snow had a daughter, and they named her Emma. Princess Emma gave the kingdom hope because, although the Evil Queen threatened to place a curse on the people of Misthaven, Emma was born, no curse was cast, and the Evil Queen retreated.

* * *

But that was 20 years ago now. And things had changed. Princess Emma was engaged to Prince Neal of Storybrooke. The marriage was going to create an alliance between the kingdom of Misthaven, and the much smaller, but far more important kingdom of Storybrooke.

But there was just one problem; Princess Emma did not love Prince Neal. She had only met him once, but he seemed conceited and arrogant. She had protested her parents to cancel the wedding, trying particularly hard to sway her mother, who still believed in true love. 

However, her father’s mind was set, and he was not going to change it. Emma needed to get married, the kingdom needed an heir, and Prince Neal was a perfectly suitable candidate.

That made Emma mad.

Hadn’t her parents shared true love? Didn’t they believe in it anymore? Why was she being forced to marry someone whom she did not love, and whom she probably never would?

Whenever she was overwhelmed by the responsibilities of being royal (which seemed to be happening more and more), she ran to the one place she could escape to - Middlemarch village.

In one of her much plainer dresses, she almost passed as a rich merchant’s daughter, although she still stood out among the village of starving people - the starving people who would one day be her subjects. As she had never been into the village as a princess, and was almost never allowed to leave the palace, there was no way anyone would recogniser her.

Besides, she would be back before morning; she just had to see her love, her pirate.

As she rounded the corner to the pub where he was guaranteed to be, she stopped. How would he react when she told him the news?

She pushed open the heavy wooden door, ordered a pint of beer, and walked to the back of the tavern, where her pirate would be waiting. Every Sunday, they met back here, unless there was a reason they couldn’t.

‘Swan, you are here.’ A low voice said, and Emma ran towards him.

* * *

_Her rather unusual nickname came from their first encounter; she was sat by one of the lakes just outside the royal property, feeding the birds, when a pirate came along. He said he was looking for his way to the nearest port, but she refused to help. He stopped, sat alongside her, and picked up some of the breadcrumbs in her bag._

_‘Beautiful,’ he said, ‘Mallards are my favourite birds.’_

_‘They are quite beautiful,’ Emma replied, ‘but I prefer swans.’_

_‘Then that is what I shall call you,’ he said, ‘Swan.’_

_‘My real name’s Emma,’ she said, ‘but it is a rather nice nickname. And what shall I call you?’_

_‘Most people called me Captain Hook,’ he said, producing the shining metal curve, ‘but you can call me by my real name, Killian Jones.’_

_‘It is a pleasure to meet you, Killian Jones.’_

_‘The pleasure is all mine, Emma Swan.’_

* * *

‘I guess you’ve heard by now,’ Emma said, nestling next to her pirate on the wooden bench.

‘Everyone has,’ he replied, ‘‘Princess Emma of Misthaven to marry Prince Neal of Storybrooke’.’

‘I’m sorry,’ she said, wrapping his arms around her torso, ‘I don’t love him; I don’t even like him. I want to marry you!’

‘And I you, Swan,’ he replied, ‘but what are we meant to do. We can’t disobey the King and Queen.’

‘I’ll run away,’ she said determinedly, ‘We can run away. Together. Start a new life somewhere.’

This sounded absurd, and they knew the punishment they would face if they were caught, but they knew they could not be separated from each other, so they came up with a plan.

The weeks leading up to the wedding were full of planning, both from the King and Queen and Emma and Killian. While the Queen was determined to host the perfect wedding for her daughter, to make up for marrying someone she didn’t love (yet; the Queen was full of hope), Emma and Killian were planning her escape from a family who were trapping her.

On the night before what was supposed to be her wedding day, Emma ran through the plan once again in her head:

_Once Emma had finished her final dress fitting, she would ask to have dinner in her room. Then, she would find the bag containing all her least princess-y things, and a few of important possessions, and put the last few things in the bag. After her dinner arrived, she would eat it, ask to be left alone for the night, and get changed into one of the dresses she had ‘borrowed’ from the laundry._

_At that point, Killian would have readied the Jolly Roger, and would be making his way to the lake just outside the royal property._

_Then, she would sneak out the window and climb down the vines. She would run as fast and as far as she could._

_Hopefully, they would be miles away from the dock by the time anyone realised she was gone._

But it doesn’t always go according to plan.


	2. True Love Means Coming Through for You.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Emma faces a small setback, but knows she must continue, so she can have the life she always wished for.

Emma’s dress fitting ended on time, and boy was she relieved to get out of that hideously feathery dress. Following the plan, she asked to have dinner in her room, making up some excuse about brides needing their beauty sleep. Her wish was granted, and she made her way to her suite, on the second floor of the west wing. Eager to grab her bags and leave the castle for good, she ran to her ginormous closet, and made her way through the rows of extravagant dresses to a cupboard on the back wall. Opening it, she grabbed a small canvas bag, and found the maid’s dress where she had hidden it. She grabbed it, stuffed it in her bag and, just as she was searching through the various draws for her most valuable possession, she heard her name being called.

‘Emma,’ her mother called out, making her way into her daughter’s bedroom. This wasn’t part of the plan. She shoved the bag, and it’s contents back into the cupboard, and exited the closet, pretending to examine one of her dresses on the way out.

‘I know you don’t want to marry Prince Neal, but you can learn to love him. The kingdom needs an heir.’ She continued, oblivious of Emma’s shuffling in the closet. Snow walked to the closet and opened the door; Emma often hid there when she was sad.

Emma often didn’t enjoy her mother’s long speeches about hope and happiness, and she especially didn’t like it when they delayed her plan to escape.

‘I know being Queen comes with responsibilities, but you also get to have balls.’

Emma was frustrated; her mother obviously knew nothing of the starvation and anger of the commonfolk, or the debt owed by the kingdom, mostly to Storybrooke. She herself had only learned of it a few weeks ago, as her father prepared her to rule. Emma didn’t want to inherit a kingdom full of anger and debt, and she didn’t want to do it with someone she didn’t even like.

‘Mother, I know you love me, I know you believe I am the best thing for this kingdom, but I’m not. I’m not special; I’m just normal.’

‘Emma, you could never be normal. You are a princess and will one day be queen. And you are my daughter.’ Snow hugged Emma, squishing her internal organs more than her corset did.

‘Thank you, Mom. I feel much better now.’

‘I’m glad you do,’ she replied, standing up and walking out of the closet, ‘I have to go now, but just remember I love you. Also, the kitchens are running late on dinner because of the wedding preparations.

Now that her mother was gone, she had to proceed with the plan.

* * *

Meanwhile, Captain Hook was making his way through the forest, and to the lake. The Jolly Roger waited at the dock, and his crew had been dismissed – the only people aboard the ship when it left that evening would be Killian, Emma, and his loyal friend Smee.

He stopped, sitting on a log along his path. He knew he loved Emma, and wanted to be with her forever, but how were they going to get away with this? He could be executed for stealing the princess.

Besides, everyone knew who the princess was in this realm. That brought him to the next stage of the plan. He pulled a little bottle of pixie dust from his breast pocket. Hopefully, it would be enough to take him and his Swan far from this realm, and into the safety of another.

He ventured on further, before sitting down by the lake. This was the place he first met his one True Love.

* * *

After waiting an hour or so, Killian was concerned. He had never been very patient and had struggled to wait even an hour. He feared the worst: that Queen Snow and King David knew of their plan, or even worse, Emma didn’t want to come.

He waited, and waited, and waited, until he heard the light patter of dainty feet hitting the fallen leaves. He turned round to see a beautiful woman running towards him, her white cloak billowing behind her.

‘I feared you would never come.’ Killian said, embracing his love tightly.

‘And be stuck in a tower away from you,’ she said, planting a soft kiss on his cheek, ‘never.’

‘What took so long, and why aren’t you wearing the servant dress?’ Killian led Emma down the path towards the village. He didn’t really care; as long as he had her, he would be fine.

‘I’m sorry. My mom gave me one of her lectures, going on about hope and all that other nonsense. The kitchens were running late preparing for a wedding that was never going to happen. And about the dress – Zelena failed me. She said she would have it in time but forgot. This is one of my plainest dresses, so it will have to do.’

‘I don’t care; you’re here now, and I’m never letting you go ever again.’

The walked on, arm in arm until they reached the village.

And there stood the Jolly Roger, looming over the dock. Killian helped Emma up the gang plank, placed her bag on the deck, and commanded to Smee to set sail.

Emma and Killian were about to start a new life together, far from that place.


	3. A Story That's Far From Over

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Emma and Killian tell the story of their adventures to their first daughter, and continue exploring with their growing family.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry I haven't written in ages, but this is the last chapter, completely finished. Thank you for reading, and I hope you like it.

As the Jolly Roger left the dock, Emma and Killian were completely happy. Smee threw the magic bean into the ocean, and suddenly a portal opened up. The Jolly Roger sailed through and into another world: the world without magic, known to it’s inhabitants as Earth.  
  
At that moment, the princess and the pirate stood in each other’s arms, completely happy.  
  
The End,’  
  
said Killian, stroking the dark blond hair of the little girl in his arms. It was hard to believe that this was his daughter. She was 4 years old, and was nothing like the princess she should’ve been, but that didn’t matter now.

‘That’s not how it ends,’ said Emma, his fiancé (and in a couple of minutes, wife). ‘Emma and Killian came to the new world, and they were scared. But they got through it because they had each other, Smee, a new friend called Lily, and of course their beautiful daughter, Princess Hope Alice Jones.’

She spun her daughter round, the frilly dress that the little girl despised puffing up. It was crazy how much that girl hated dresses.

‘But, today is another day, almost as important as the day Princess Hope was born,’ she continued, ‘because today is the day when Princess Emma finally got to marry her pirate.’

‘It’s not an ending though,’ continued Killian, ‘it’s a happy beginning.’

* * *

Killian was truly happy with his new life; although he had to give up his life in the Enchanted Forest, he had everything he could’ve ever wanted. His wife, Emma, was rocking his son to sleep; outside, Hope (although she preferred to be called Alice) was sword fighting with Davy, obviously letting him win; Livy was sat in one of the cosy armchairs sewing, just as her mother had taught her.

Killian knew that, although he had made sacrifices for this life, it was worth it just to see his family together, and happy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the final chapter of this story. I am going to write another for the series hopefully soon. Thank you for reading and for all the Kudos.


End file.
